The Shakespeare Authorship Question is Answered by the Author Himself in his Magnificent Monument of the Sonnets

Below is a blog about A Poet’s Rage from Ricardo Mena, whose forthcoming Ver, begin is a stunning masterwork. Thanks to Ricardo for these kind words. My New England heritage warns me to avoid sharing such compliments, but my Irish and French blood demands that I go right ahead; so here you go:

“Today arrived a book that is full of energy and courage. It is a book for daredevils and freelances.

“This book that arrived today is a synthesis of the Prince Tudor Theory I generally, and a vindication, defence and praise of The Monument theory discovered and explained by the eminent freelance Hank Whittemore particularly. Notwithstanding Whittemore’s great chapters on the Rival Poet of the Sonnets and Southampton’s verse-letter, which I already knew about and have read, I enjoyed the reading of Chapter 7, “Unveiling the Sonnets,” written by William Boyle. He shows us that his mind is a scientific mind in love with knowing and understanding things, something that is contrary to the esotericism and mysticism of Stratfordians:

There we have the sonnet dilemma in a nutshell: “Such knowledge is irrecoverable.” But what if such knowledge were not irrecoverable? What if there were a correct answer to the entire Sonnet Mystery, and all that one needed to achieve it were the proper set of interpretative tools?

“As Hank Whittemore remarks again and again, the key to the Elizabethan and Shakespearean mystery is not mysticism and darkness, but politics. I agree as well with Charles Beauclerk and William and Charles Boyle when they say, in Chapter 2, that the kernel of the problem is not Edward de Vere’s royal identity, as well as his son Southampton, but the Virgin Queen’s icon, that idol of the market Bacon warned us about. As they write insightfully, “for some Oxfordians questioning the Virgin Queen’s virginity is ‘an icon too far.’” Take a look at these words by William Boyle:

Fortunately, Hank Whittemore’s Monument Theory now has provided the context that completes the unveiling, exposing, in unprecedented detail, the connection between the verses and their historical context, thus resolving the mystery and “solving” the sonnets … The Monument Theory provides, for the first time, a unified theory of how the Shakespeare authorship came into existence, and in so doing provides answers to two outstanding unanswered questions from the history of the Essex Rebellion: why Southampton was spared execution, and why Shakespeare was spared punishment for his supporting role in those events. The simple answer to both these questions—an answer that only Oxfordians can provide—is that the true Shakespeare (Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford) was punished—virtually erased from history—and it was his punishment, his sacrifice, that saved Southampton. “Shakespeare” died so that Southampton could live.

Such a simple and elegant solution to the authorship problem is just what Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens called for over twenty years ago … In his closing statement, Justice Stevens declared that while he suspected a conspiracy involving the Queen and Burghley could be behind this incredible story, Oxfordians had yet to articulate an all-encompassing account.

“I agree as well with William Boyle that

it is time to build on what Whittemore has discovered and defined in his “monumental” study and complete our work in gaining the world’s acceptance of Edward de Vere as Shakespeare with attendant appreciation for the reasons this writer wrote that he did and allowed his name to be buried these many centuries, in expectation of a time when “eyes to be” could behold his work and “tongues to be” could salute his noble purpose.

“Some people are doing exactly this and benefiting from it. I, personally, have done just that in Ver, begin: my book could never have been written as it has been if The Monument theory and the blog of Hank Whittemore had not been around online. For those adventurers and Redcrosse knights already on their quest for truth and Vna, beware: here is the “Castle of Alma” of your Shakespearian quest. A book to acquire, meditate upon, and preserve. Many will ignore it. Many more would desire the Shakespeare Authorship Question and his Sonnets went away, but, as Lawrence M. Krauss says at the end of the documentary The Ultimate Guide to Black Holes: “It might seem easier if things like Black Holes went away, but then, where would the fun be?” Indeed, that is the reason why trying to learn by reading Stratfordian books on Shakespeare is such a boring thing.”
Amazon link below:

Years ago, flying home from the Boston SOS meeting, I read Elisabeth Sears book on the Tudor Rose. I was noodling my way along — somewhat skeptical — and then the Essex Rebellion and its after effects rattled my cage. Now, this was history, and not ‘interpretation’, and it struck me as The Truth. Here is the pivot point that wiped out my Virginal hesitancy. The Monument put The Truth in context.

Sears’ book is on Amazon – the 2003 edition – at prices hovering between $100 and $200, a signed first edition for $60, and one unidentified paperback for about $9.

The Amazon search for the title brings up a few more books on the subject, by Mike A’Dair, Marilyn Gray, and others

Gray’s thesis seems to center around the large number of words in the plays beginning with “ver”. (But why would so gifted a wordsmith and cryptographer (hider of messages) use only the beginning of words?)